Dress or other garment



Dec. 23, 'J PELTQN v DRESS OR OTHER GARMENT Filed March 16, 1946 INVENTOR JANET E. PSLTON Patented Dec. 23, 1947 UNITED STATE ATENT OFFICE DRESS OR OTHER GARMENT Janet Elizabeth Pelton, Biloxi, Miss.

Application March 16, 1946, Serial No. 654,873

Claims.

This invention relates to a garment such as a dress or coat and particularly to a, novel construction of such a garment having new and desirable functions. While the invention is capable of application to many kinds of garments, in the embodiment of the invention illustrated it is shown as a dress of the house dress type.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel and efficient structure of dress which will give greater comfort, better adjustment to the body of the wearer, and result in less stress on the seams of the garment.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a garment such as a dress, having front and rear pieces of substantially the same size and shape, tbgether with means extending along the side and top edges of said pieces and connected to said pieces respectively by spaced seams.

It is another object of the invention to provide a garment such as a dress comprising front and rear pieces of substantially the same size and shape, together with a, narrow strip of material extending along the side edges of said pieces at each side thereof, said strip having its edges secured to said side edges respectively.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a garment such as a dress comprising separate pieces of substantially the same size and shape, said pieces being connected at their adjacent edges by a narrow strip of material having its edges respectively connected to said edges.

It is still further an object of the invention to provide a garment having front and rear pieces of substantially the same size and shape, said pieces having sleeve portions, narrow strips extending from the bottom of said pieces along the side edges thereof and along the bottom sides of said sleeve portions, said strips having their edges respectively secured to the edges of said front and rear pieces, narrow strips extending along the tops of said sleeve portions and the adjacent shoulder portions, said latter strips having their edges secured respectively to the edges of said front and rear pieces.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a garment such as set forth in the above paragraph, together with means for gathering said garment transversely at its waist portion at the front or at the rear of said garment.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such a garment as set forth in the preceding paragraph save one, in which said narrow strips extending along the tops of the sleeve portions and shoulder portions are respectively provided with some sort of padding, pleating or gathering.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully set forth in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig, l is a view in front elevation of the garment;

Fig. 2 is a view in rear elevation of said garment;

Fig. 3 is a partial perspective view of sa d garment;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken substantially on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken substantially on line 5-5 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2 and shown on an enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawings, a garment is shown comprising a front piece In. While this piece will of course be varied in accordance with the nature and design of the garment, in the embodiment of the invention illustrated it is shown as having a, lower or skirt portion ma and sleeve portions lob. Said garment is also provided with a neck opening We of general trapezoidal shape. Said garment has a rear piece I I which will be of substantially the same shape and size as the front piece it except that it is not provided with the neck opening Etc. Said rear piece thus has the skirt portion Na and the sleeve portions lib, A narrow strip of material l2 extends along the side edges of pieces I0 and l I from the bottom thereof up to and along the lower side of sleeve portions llb. This narrow piece of material I2 is connected at its side edges to the adjacent edges of pieces In and 12 by the spaced seams l3. Similar narrow pieces l4 extend along the tops of sleeve portions lllb and lib and along the shoulder portions adjacent the neck opening Ito, and said pieces [4 are connected at their edges by spaced seams Hi to the adjacent edges of the front and rear pieces H] and H, as shown in Fig. 5. The pieces M at the shoulder portion are preferably provided with some gathering or padding as illustrated by the pleats IS, the formation of these pleats being indicated in Fig. 6.

It is desirable to have some gathering means at the waist portion of the garment, and while this means might take various form in the embodiment of the invention illustrated said front piece has a strip or piece of tape I8 secured to its inner side and spaced buttons I9 are sewed to piece I and said strip I 8. A strip of material 20 having somewhat pointed ends and parallel top and bottom sides is provided, the same having button-holes 20a therein which are spaced apart a distance considerably smaller than the distance the buttons I9 are spaced. It will be seen that if the buttons I9 are buttoned in the holes 20a that the dress will be gathered in the front, as shown in Fig. 3. A strip or piece of tape 2| similar to piece I8 may also be secured to the inner side of rear piece II and buttons 22 secured to said strip 2i and piece II. A piece or strip 23 similar to strip 20 is provided, the same having therein button-holes 23a. Buttonholes 23a are spaced a distance considerably less than the distance the buttons 22' are spaced. When buttons 22 are buttoned in the holes 23a the garment will be gathered at the rear. Strips 20 and 23 are substantially at the waist portion of the garment.

With the above construction a garment is provided which will much more easily adjust itself to the body than one where the front and rear pieces are connected directly together. The strips I2 make the dress very flexible and the pieces I0 and II can move relatively to either seam I3. The front piece I!) and strip I2 could swing about the rear seam I3 or front piece I0 could move about the front seam I3. This gives greater flexibility to the dress and results in a much more comfortable garment. The strips I4 likewise give flexibility to the top of the garment. Furthermore strains on the front and rear pieces Hi and II can be taken by both of the seams I3. The strain on the seams of the garment is therefore much less than where just one seam is present. The stress is therefore distributed between the seams I3. No one side seam is forced to absorb the stress or strain both front and back as in the ordinary design where there is one side seam. On account of the increased flexibility of the garment due to the strips I2 and I4, the amount of material required for a specific dress is much less than with the ordinary construction. For instance, a size 14 dress embodying the present invention required only 2% yards of material while the ordinary construction ran from 3%; yards of material to 4 yards. While the width of the strips I2 and I4 could be varied, in practice in a house dress these strips had a width of approximately 2 /2 inches. The present invention eliminates much of the difficulty in cutting and assembling.

In order that the dress be fitted to the form, the gathering means at the front and rear are provided. By gathering the garment at the waist portion at the front or at the rear or at both, an attractive and fitted garment is produced. This gathering would not function so well except for the action of the strips I2. The pleating I6 is provided to give trimming and relieve the plainness of the garment and at the same time serve as padding which is desirable at the shoulder portions.

From the above description it will be seen that I have provided a novel, easily made and less expensive construction of garment and one which adjusts itself readily and gives great comfort. While the garment is illustrated as a house dress it is obvious that the novel features thereof could be embodied in such garments as coats, overcoats, childrens garments and playsuits. The invention has been amply demonstrated in actual practice and found to be very successful and efiicient.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts, without departing from the scope of applicants invention, which generally stated, consists in a garment capable of carrying out the objects above set forth, in the parts and combinations of parts disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A loose-fitting garment such as a dress or coat having in combination, a front piece including sleeve portions, a rear piece of substantially the same size and shape as said front piece, narrow strips of inelastic material extending along the side edges of said front and rear pieces, said strips extending along the underside of the arm portions, said strips having their edges secured respectively along lines extending longitudinally of said garment to said side edges and narrow strips extending along the tops of said sleeve portions and the shoulder portions of said front and rear pieces and having their edges secured respectively along lines extending longitudinally of said sleeves to said front and rear pieces whereby movement of said front and rear pieces about said first mentioned lines is permitted and movement of said front and rear pieces about said last mentioned lines is permitted.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, said narrow strips extending along the tops of the sleeve portions and the shoulder portions of said last mentioned strips being provided with a plurality of transverse pleats.

3. A garment such as a dress or coat having in combination, a front piece comprising a skirt portion and sleeve portions, a rear piece of substantially the same outline and size as said front piece, a narrow strip of inelastic material extending along each side edge of said front and rear pieces and along the undersides of the arm portions, seams securing the edges of said narrow strip to the edges of said front and rear pieces respectively, a narrow strip of inelastic material extending along the top of each sleeve portion and shoulder portion of said front and rear pieces, and seams securing the edges of said last mentioned strip to the edges of said front and rear pieces respectively whereby said front and rear pieces may move about the edges of said first mentioned strips and may also move about the edges of said last mentioned strips.

4. A loose fitting garment such as a dress or coat having in combination, a front piece having skirt, waist and sleeve portions, a rear piece having skirt, waist and sleeve portions and connecting means of inelastic material of small transverse dimension extending along the side edges of said front and rear pieces and along the under sides of said sleeve portions respectivel and to the ends of said sleeve portions and disposed at the sides of said garment, and a pair of seams extending longitudinally of aid garment and securing the side edges of said connecting means to the side edges of said front and rear pieces respectively.

5. A loose fitting garment such as a dress or coat having in combination, a front piece having skirt, waist and sleeve portions, a rear piece having skirt, waist and sleeve portions and being of substantially the same size and shape as said front piece and a narrow strip of inelastic material extending along the side edges of said front and rear pieces and extending along the under side of said sleeve portions to the ends thereof respectively and having its edges secured to the side edges of said front and rear pieces respectively, said strips thus being disposed at the sides of said garment whereby said front and rear pieces may respectively swing about the side edges of said strip.

JANET ELIZABETH PELTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Wickes Nov. 6, 1917 Bright Dec. 17, 1918 Ellerbeck et a1 Sept. 6, 1932 Aronson Oct. 16, 1934 Rubin Mar. 17, 1936 Mahoney Feb. 3, 1942 Mohler Sept. 29, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain June 18, 1936 

